The following article first appeared in the Gwinnett Daily Post on April 1, 2023 and was written by Cassidy Hettesheimer. It is reprinted here with permission. Images are from USC -Upstate and also from the Clark family.
Additionally, Mallory’s younger sister, Lindsay, an outfielder in the East Cobb Bullets club organization, was ranked No. 88 in the 2026 Extra Elite 100 released last year.
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When Mallory Clark couldn’t make it through softball practice without taking Advil, she knew something was wrong.
“I couldn’t stand up without feeling like I was going to pass out,” Clark said. “It got to a breaking point.”
A trip to the doctor revealed Clark needed brain surgery. It was the middle of the Archer High (Lawrenceville, Georgia) softball’s run in the 2020 state high school playoffs and Clark’s college recruitment. Doctors told Clark that she would never play softball again.
“(I thought), ‘I don’t know what they’re talking about,’” Clark said. “I’m still going to be a college athlete. I’m still going to play. If there’s a will, there’s a way. I’m going to figure it out.’”
Now, Clark is a freshman catcher on the University of South Carolina Upstate’s Division I softball team. Clark’s first season with Spartans, who are currently 29-13 (as of Friday, April 13), comes after her journey to return to the diamond — a journey that she said has shaped how she views the sport and how she’s approaching her role with Spartans this year.
Clark was in seventh grade when doctors initially diagnosed her with Chiari malformation. The condition, present at Clark’s birth, involves brain tissue extending into the spinal canal. At diagnosis, doctors told Clark that the condition was not currently life-threatening, though something to keep an eye on. But, after a jarring dive in softball practice led to headaches during Clark’s sophomore and junior years of high school, doctors found that swelling meant she “basically had no room for any spinal fluid to flow through (my) brainstem,” Clark said.
Clark needed surgery, and quickly, but she didn’t want to be thinking about surgery, at that point. After winning the Region 7-AAAAAAA championship that season — with Clark one of the Tigers’ players named to the All-Region first team— Archer softball was in the middle of a state playoff run.
Doctors told Clark that she couldn’t play catcher. A wild pitch or foul ball to the head could be life-threatening.
Clark sat on the bench as Archer beat Lowndes in the state quarterfinals and was cleared to play at third base in the final stage of the playoffs in Columbus.
“(Sitting out), I got to really embrace what it was like to really only be able to be a good teammate and cheer on my teammates,” said Clark.
After losses to North Gwinnett and Harrison ended Archer’s season, Clark underwent surgery. For three months, she said she “could not lift a muscle.”
“My last concern was the fact that I was having surgery,” she said. “I was so worried about my future, so worried about softball, so worried about, ‘When can I play again? When can I get back to the field? When can I throw again?’… I was like, ‘Yeah, put me on the table, cut my head open. I don’t care. When can I play softball?’”
In January, Clark got the all-clear to return to training.
“I went in guns blazing. I was working out every single day of the week, hitting every single day, catching as much as I possibly could,” Clark said. “I was in the best shape of my life. I honestly killed my body to get back, but I would do it all over again.”
She worked with Tripp Smith to build strength, hit with Michael Klim and caught with her longtime catching coach Claudia Cooper. Clark said that, sometimes, her parents and coaches had to remind her to rest and not overwork herself while training for softball and playing on Archer’s lacrosse team that spring.
“They had a huge role in keeping my brain sane during all this because I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed, and I couldn’t push anymore,” Clark said. “They were there to remind me that it’s okay to let go a little bit — like you’re not going to lose a day by taking an hour for yourself.”
While training and rehabbing during the spring of her junior year, Clark also eyed college softball programs. Typically, junior year is a key time for college recruits, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA established a “dead period” for college visits that lasted through May 2021. This period of pause, Clark said, allowed her some time to recover while not falling behind in recruiting.
“Had I not had the dead period, I probably would not be a college athlete,” said Clark.
She had visited USC Upstate during her freshman year of high school, when she attended a camp and first met her current head coach, Chris Hawkins.
“I kind of just knew from everywhere I’ve been, this was really the place that stood out to me the most, and this was where I knew I wanted to be,” said Clark.
Clark committed to USC Upstate the summer before her senior year. She’s now at school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she studies nursing.
so excited to officially be a spartan💚 #nationalsigningday✍️ #tothenextfour @PACKUPSTATE @HawkinsChawkins @ECBulletsGlenn @AHSTigersSports @GDPsports pic.twitter.com/WNjh8zCOZv
— Mallory Clark (@MalloryC2022) November 11, 2021
Hawkins said that the Spartans never doubted bringing Clark onto the team after her mid-recruitment surgery.
“We’re not backing down on anybody,” Hawkins said. “We have a family here, we take care of our own … Her ability not to have headaches, her ability to come out and she’s got a smile on her face or ability to function through the game with clarity, it’s all awesome.”
Currently, USC Upstate is chasing back-to-back Big South conference titles. The Spartans started the season 13-0 and were the last Division I team without a loss.
Playing on a roster with three upperclassmen catchers who plan to graduate this year, Clark said her role with the Spartans involves “soaking in everything, like a sponge” while supporting her team.
“That’s something I think I learned from having surgery, because I had to be on the sidelines. When you can’t be excited for yourself, you have to be excited for your teammates and for their successes,” Clark said.
Hawkins recognizes the importance of prepping Clark for the future and the selflessness of her role this season.
“I think she serves other people … puts the team first,” Hawkins said. “She’s very easygoing, and just a real good person.”
Clark’s recovery journey has provided her with a new appreciation for each college softball practice.
“This is an experience that probably one in a million people are going to have, but I would not trade it for the world,” said Clark. “Everybody always asked me, ‘If you could go back, would you wish that you never had this surgery? Do you wish that never happened to you?’ But honestly, I’m really grateful for it. I’m glad that it happened to me. It sucks in the moment, but coming out on the other side of it and appreciating this game, and being a teammate, and being a part of a team and things like that — it makes you appreciate it so much more.
“There’s some people out there that’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we have practice today.’ But it’s like ‘Yes, another day of practicing, like, let’s go.’”
For Clark, returning to the game was never a question of if — just when.
“Softball is me. It’s my life. It’s my passion, my drive,” Clark said. “So I really lean into the process and lean into the hard work and embrace it.”
Clark hopes that, by sharing her story, she might provide inspiration for others going through similar journeys. After her surgery, Clark’s father showed her an article about Clemson softball’s Ansley Gilstrap. In 2019, Gilstrap, who was a transfer from USC Upstate, had undergone the same surgery as Clark, for the same condition, and returned to the field for the Tigers in March 2021.
“I read the article, and I was like, well, she can come back, and so can I, and if she can play Division I softball, so can I,” said Clark. “It definitely provided a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.”
“I’m totally open about the whole experience,” Clark said about her own journey. “Because if I can help someone else, then it’s a good day.”
